Automatic control of combustion



9 N35, L, $ATCHWELL.

AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF COMBUSTION FURNACES Filed July 26, 1932 Patented Aug. 27, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Leonard Satchwell, Slough, England Application July 26, 1932, Serial No. 624,700 In Great Britain February 25, 1932 2 Claims.

This invention relates tosystems of control for combustion furnaces, using liquid or pulverized fuel, and has for its purpose the provision of simple and compact means for operating and B controlling the burning apparatus, both as regards the supply of fuel, its ignition, and its safety in case of non-ignition or flame failure.

. The elements commonly required for the automatic controlof such furnaces consist of a device .to turn on the supply of the fuel and turn on the ignition means, a thermostat in the liquid or other medium to :be heated, and/or a thermostat in the space to be heated and a safety .or flame thermostat responsive .to the flame in the furnace which flame or safety thermostat operates to in terrupt thesupply of the fuel in the event of failure of the flame.

In burners such as those used for oil it is necessary that the starting of the burner, i. e. the starting of the motor for pumping the fuel into the combustion furnace or the turning on of the supply of the fuel, :or both, together with .the turning on ofxthe ignition means, :shall be carried into .efiect through the medium of apparatus which provides .a discontinuance of operation after a short time should the furnace .thermostat not operate, .or, in 'other words, should the flame in the combustion furnace not be established. The continuance of fuel supply there.- fore is dependent .upon operation of .the flame thermostat, due to flame establishment. If at a later time the flame should fail orgo out then counter'operation of the "flame thermostat will cause the supply f fuel to be stopped, and preferably cause the control apparatus to' lock .out, so as to prevent its further automatic operation without personal attention.

The system-of automatic control of the present invention provides for a small power device, such as a heat operated device, to close and open two switches and also open only, one additional switch, in their proper sequence, in order to ob- .tain this desired result.

In a preferred arrangement the ,power unit comprises a vessel of variablecapacityanda vessel associated therewith adapted to be heated by an electric resistance, both vessels being filled with liquid, the increase in capacity of the vessel of variable capacity due to evaporation of some of the liquid in the associated vessel on being heated by the electric -resistance serving to operate switches in a desired order. Theelectriere- .sistance is connected through the water thermostat of a boiler, water heater or the like and/or the thermostat in the ,space to be heated and through the safety or flame thermostat in its cold position with the source of current, so that when the water thermostat or the thermostat in the space to be heated is calling for heat the assoiated vessel of the power unit is heated and a 5 movablepart of the vessel of variable capacity is moved to operate two starting switches which serve to switch on the ignition and the motor supplying the fuel or open a fuelsupply cock.

The connections are such that on flame being established the flame thermostat in changing over-to its hot or running contact interrupts the supply of current to the electrical resistance of the power unit causing the liquid to condense and the switches to be returned into initial position but retains the supply of current to the fuel supply motor through the hot contact of the flame thermostat. The switches are so arranged that they close the ignition and motor circuits before complete evaporation of the liquid in the associated vessel of the power unit.

Assuming the flame is lit and is accidentally extinguished the flame thermostat will break circuit from its hot contact thereby interrupting the circuit to the motor and stopping delivery of 5 fuel to the furnace. On re-establishment-of the circuit through the cold contact the electrical resistance will again supply heat to the power unit, whereupon after a definite time interval the moving member of the power unit will again move the ignition and motor switches into starting position. If, however, flame is not established the resistance willcontinue to evaporate the liquid in the'power unit, the moving member of which will continue its stroke and in the continuation of its a stroke will open a third switch interrupting the main supply of current to the whole of the fuel burning apparatus, necessitating a manual operation to reset the apparatus to allow it to restart.

Suitably this third switch is so arranged in 40 relation to a casing containing the power unit as to be opened by a devicewhich will maintain it in locked position until reset by hand.

An electro-magnetic relay may be used to start the fuel supply motor or open :thefuel valve, its operating circuit being controlled by one of the switches closed by the control device. Es tablished flamecloses the running contact of the fiameswitch to retain this relay closed dependent upon thccontinued burning of the fuel.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate one form of the power unit and. its associatedswitches, Fig. 1 showing the front wall of the casing broken away to illustrate a portion of the switch. Fig. 2 is a view of the power unit and its switches at right angles to Fig. 1, the side wall of the casing being assumed to be removed to expose the unit to view. In this figure the lock out switch above referred to as the third switch is shown in locked out position from which it must be reset by hand before the apparatus will operate. Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrative of the operation of the device.

In the form of the controlling apparatus selected for illustration the power unit or switch actuator comprises a fluid-containing vessel l surmounted by an evaporating chamber 2 on which is wound an electrical resistance 3. This unit is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as secured by means of brackets within a rectangular tube of insulating material t from which are also supported the various switches to be operated thereby. One wall of the Vessel l includes a moving plate 5 which is connected by means of a bellows to a stationary part of the vessel. To the plate 5 there is fitted a rod 5 carrying an insulating cross bar 6 against which are pressed by means of springs 8, 8' two switch levers l, 1 pivoted at l on brackets mounted in the casing 3. The switch levers l, i will thus be raised against the action of the springs 8, 6' as the rod 5 moves inwards and will be pressed by the springs as the rod moves outwards into contact with fixed contacts 9, 9 secured to conducting terminals. A third switch it pivoting about a knife edge lea andengageable by a collar lfib on the rod 5 is adapted to be held by a spring it. This spring is in compression between the end of switch lever ii? and the casing 6., thus imparting to the switch lever Etna snap over centre action, giving contact with either one of contacts H or 92, but lever is is unable to remain at any intermediate position. The switch M3 is moved by the collar Ellb as the rod 5 moves outwards from contact H to contact 52 but remains in this position as the a rod again moves inwards until returned by hand by pressure on the stud lia. Terminals it perrnit connections to be made from the various switches to the fuel supply motor or valve, to

the ignition means and to the controlling thermostats.

,nectors to facilitate connection to suitable sock- These terminals may be plug conets fixed on the connections to fuel supply means, thermostats, etc.

Consideration of this device in conjunction with circuit diagram Fig. 3 will make clear the sequence of operations. In the diagram 3 indicates the resistance unit which heats the liquid in the-evaporating chamber 2 of Figs. 1 and 2, l and 7 denote the switches l and l of Figs. 1 and 2, 9, 9' the contacts corresponding to contacts 9, 9' of Figs. 1 and 2. m is the third or lock out switch corresponding to that indicated ateto give a visible and/or audible signal when the plant has been locked out or shut down due to a failure. The supply mains are indicated at 25 and 24'.

Before starting the plant, the various switches -will be in the positionindicated in Fig. 3 and upon a demand for heat, switch ill will close and current will flow from the main 24 through the switch it, and the temperature or pressure controlling switch ii to the flame sensitive switch 20. This switch will be on its cold contact 26a and therefore the circuit will be completed through the heater resistance 3 wound on the evaporating chamber 2 to main 2 After a short time the liquid in chamber 2 will boil and the portion evaporated will displace some liquid into the chamber Q. As a result the rod 5 attached to the moving plate 5 of chamber 5 will be moved outwards allowing switches l and I to contact with their respective fixed contacts 9 and 9'. There will thus be established two parallel circuits in series with switch ll, one through switch l to the ignition device 22 and the second through switch 1 to the fuel supply device l5 and to the main 2%. Fuel will then be supplied to the furnace and flame should be established, causing the flame thermostat to change over to its hot or running contact 2%. This action interrupts the circuit to the heater 3 wound on the chamber 2. Consequent cooling causes condensation of thevapour in the chamber 5 and the return of the rod 5 to its original position, opening as it moves inwards again switches l and 7.

Referring to the diagram it will be seen that the opening of these two switches l and 1 outs oi the current from the ignition device 22, which will not be required to operate once flame is established, and the fuel supply means I5 is now energized through switches ill and the flame sensitive switch 29. If on starting flame should not be established the switch 28 will remain in contact with its cold contact 28a allowing current to continue to flow through heater 3. This continued heating will evaporate more of the liquid in chamber 2 until the rod 5 by the continuation of its outward stroke and the pressure of the collar lob thereon will cause the switch iii to leave the contact ll and make contact with the contact 92 thus opening switch ll) and stopping the plant and also energizing the alarm device 27. The resetting 'of the switch it] by hand by pressing the stud i211 is then necessary before a restart can be made.

As indicated in Fig. 3 a fuse 29 is provided in the circuit between the flame thermostat 2B and the fuel supply motor l5, which fuse is of such capacity as will carry safely the running current of the fuel supply motor but will blow out if, due to the flame thermostat adhering on its hot contact 201) in spite of extinction of the flame, the starting current of the motor should be passed through it.

I claim:

1. In a fuel burner control system of the class described, in combination, fuel feeding means, a thermal control switch, a combustion responsive switching device having hot and cold contacts, the former being closed in response to the establishment of combustion and the latter being closed in the absence of combustion, a normally open switch and a normally closed switch, which is so constructed as to require a manual reclosing after being opened, an electrically heated expansible device operable when heated to a predetermined degree to close said normally open switch and upon further heating to open said normally closed switch, a first circuit including the normally closed switch, the control switch, the cold contact of the combustion responsive switching device, and the electric heater for the expansible device, a second circuit having therein the normally closed switch, the control switch,

said normally open switch and the fuel feeding means, and a third circuit including said normally closed switch, said control switch, the hot contact of the combustion responsive switching device, and the fuel feeding means.

2. In a fuel burner control system of the class described, in combination, fuel feeding means, ignition means, a thermal control switch, a combustion responsive switching device having hot and cold contacts, the former being closed in response to the establishment of combustion and the latter being closed in the absence of combustion, two normally open switches and a normally closed switch, which normally closed switch is so constructed as to require a manual reclosing after being opened, an electrically heated expansible device operable when heated to a predetermined degree to close said normally open switches and upon further heating to open said normally closed switch, a first circuit including the normally closed switch, the control switch, the cold contact of the combustion responsive switching device, and the electric heater for the expansible device, a second circuit having therein the normally closed switch, the control switch, one of said normally open switches and ignition means, a third circuit having therein the normally closed switch, the control switch, the other of said normally open switches and the fuel feeding means, and a fourth circuit including said normally closed switch, said control switch, the hot contact of the combustion responsive switching device, and the fuel feeding means.

LEONARD SATCHWELL. 

